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“The successful launch of Noor (Light) Satellite into the orbit 425 kilometers above Earth’s surface added another golden page to the honors of our youths and scientists active in the field of space,” Vaezi wrote on his Instagram page.

He further hailed both the satellite and three-stage satellite launcher as “national achievements” and signs of progress in Iran’s space knowledge.

The IRGC successfully put Noor (light) into orbit on Wednesday morning. The homegrown satellite was launched with a three-stage satellite carrier, dubbed Qassed (messenger), from a launchpad in Dasht-e Kavir, a large desert in central Iran.

Speaking on the launch, IRGC Chief Commander Major General Hossein Salami said, “Today, we can observe the world from space,” congratulating Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei and the Iranian people on the Islamic Establishment’s achievement.

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Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a weekly cabinet session in Tehran on Wednesday, Mahmoud Vaezi dismissed reports that a message from the US is going to be discussed during Rouhani’s upcoming visit to Japan.

“The (presidential) trip will be made within the framework of bilateral visits and meetings between the officials of Tehran and Tokyo,” Vaezi added.

He also said that Japan’s special envoy is now in Tehran to make arrangements for the presidential visit to Japan later this month.

Last week, Vaezi said Rouhani will visit Malaysia before traveling to Japan at the invitation of Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo.

Abe visited Tehran in June to become the first Japanese leader to travel to Iran in more than four decades.

The Japanese prime minister met with Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei and the Iranian president.

Last week, Vaezi has said that besides this trip, another presidential visit to Kuala Lumpur will be made at the invitation of Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Bin Mohamad.

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The Iranian administration has made efforts against decreasing the budget of the Drug Control Headquarters, Vaezi said, adding that fortunately the drug trafficking has been identified as an essential issue in Iran.

Iran has done very well in the fight against drug smugglers, he mentioned.

Vaezi stressed that Iran cannot solely coordinate with the countries of the region in order to fight against drug-trafficking and needs international assistance.

Located near Afghanistan which is one of the main sources of opium production in the world, Iran is on the frontline of the fight against drug trafficking. Iran has lost many forces during this fight. The country has always asked for international help in such operations, noting that the other countries, especially European states, should take responsibility and play a positive role in this fight or face its threats themselves.

Despite high economic and human costs, the Islamic Republic has been actively fighting drug-trafficking over the past four decades. The country has spent more than $700 million on sealing its borders and preventing the transit of narcotics destined for European, Arab and Central Asian countries. The war on drug trade originating from Afghanistan has claimed the lives of nearly 4,000 Iranian police officers over the past four decades.

According to reports, in 2018 alone, Iranian forces carried out 1,557 operations against drug traffickers, seizing approximately 807 tons of different types of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances.

According to the latest World Drug Report of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, in 2017, Iran had seized the largest quantity of opiates, accounting for 39% of the global total.

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“Generally speaking, the conversation focused on banking, economic and political issues. It was a general package of topics and both sides are looking forward to its conclusion and final result,” Vaezi added.

During the conversation between Rouhani and Macron on Saturday, it was reported that the French side had praised Iran’s commitment to talks on how to resolve a standoff over its nuclear program, telling Rouhani that France would continue its efforts for de-escalation on Iran case.

Meanwhile, Rouhani had said European parties to the JCPOA had done little to save the nuclear deal from the impacts of the US sanctions, adding “If Europe fails to execute its obligations, Iran would take its third step in reducing JCPOA commitments.”

Vaezi then talked about the US’ foreign policy toward Iran, describing it as “haphazard”.

“There is no clear framework or principle in their remarks [regarding Iran]. But we in Iran have one single policy when it comes to the US and we are all in support of it, which is, as long as the US keeps up its hastily against Iran, there will be no chance for talks. If it changes its hostile position and lifts Iran’s sanctions, then the situation will be different,” he added.

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Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a cabinet session in Tehran on Wednesday, Vaezi pointed to recent visits to France by Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and said the president, the administration and the foreign minister are trying to use all means so that the anti-Iran sanctions are lifted.

“What we have been pursuing (in talks) with France in the past few weeks, especially past few days, is to restore Iran’s rights (mentioned) in the JCPOA and remove the cruel sanctions imposed by the US,” he added.

“If no progress is seen in the upcoming negotiations, taking the third step to reduce JCPOA commitments by the admiration will be certain,” Vaezi stated.

Last month, Iran declared the second step to reduce its commitments by ramping up the level of uranium enrichment to over 3.67 percent.

Iran maintains that the new measures are not designed to harm the nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), but to save the accord by creating a balance in the commitments.

Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, US, Britain, France, and Germany) on July 14, 2015, reached a conclusion over the text of the JCPOA.

The accord took effect in January 2016 and was supposed to terminate all nuclear-related sanctions against Iran all at once, but its implementation was hampered by the US policies and its eventual withdrawal from the deal.

On May 8, 2018, US President Donald Trump pulled his country out of the nuclear accord.

Following the US withdrawal, Iran and the remaining parties launched talks to save the deal.

However, the EU’s failure to ensure Iran’s economic interests forced Tehran to stop honoring certain commitments, including an unlimited rise in the stockpile of enriched uranium.

Spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Behrouz Kamalvandi recently said that the country’s enriched uranium stockpile has reached 360 to 370 kilograms.

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Vaezi added that another meeting, to be attended by foreign minister of Iran and the three European signatories to the JCPOA, is scheduled to be held in the near future.

“In addition to [joint commission’s meetings], other countries, such as France, which has made more efforts in this regard, have held talks with us in a bid to reach a framework. We will continue our talks with the French president, and we hope to achieve whatever is to the benefit of our people and our country as defined in the JCPOA,” said Vaezi.

To a question about Iran’s decision to continue reducing commitments to the JCPOA within the framework of a third phase of measures, Vaezi said “we have more than a month before the deadline for the implementation of the third phase. The whole phase will take two months [to implement]. If we fail to reach results during the last days of negotiations, we will definitely take this step. There is no doubt about it.”

About President Rouhani’s participation at the upcoming the United Nations meeting, he said “we are making the preparations for the visit. We hope that Mr. Zarif will also take part at the meeting. The foreign minister must be able to take part at important meetings of the UN.”

He added that Iran’s mission to the UN has sent a strong letter of protest to the Secretary General, and asked for a serious probe into the US’ sanction on the Iranian foreign minister.

In a recent, controversial move, the US President Donald Trump imposed sanctions on Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, saying that Zarif is Iran’s “primary spokesperson around the world,” and that the ban “is sending a clear message that Iran’s “recent behavior is completely unacceptable.”

The move was both condemned and mocked by Iran, which said the sanction belied the US’ empty calls for holding negotiations with Iran.

Elsewhere, Vaezi voiced hope that the tension between India and Pakistan would de-escalate as soon as possible and the Kashmiri Muslims will be treated with respect.

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The Iranian official expressed hope that the bilateral relations between Iran and Azerbaijan would further develop and highlighted the need for efforts to help promote the economic ties.

Connecting the two countries’ railways, linking their national electrical grids, developing customs cooperation as well as expanding trade, sport and tourism ties, are among the efforts made by Tehran and Baku to expand their relations, Vaezi noted.

He added that Tehran and Baku have also good cooperation in pharmaceutical, car manufacturing and joint investments, and share many common stances on regional and international issues.

Vaezi, who is in in Azerbaijan to provide the grounds for next week’s trilateral summit by Russia, Azerbaijan and Iran on Syria’s peace process, also thanked the Azeri officials for rescuing the crew of a sunken Iranian ship in the Caspian Sea.

Mustafayev, for his part, referred to the the growing number of Iranian companies in Azerbaijan over the past two years and stressed the need to raise the annual trade volume between the two countries.

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The latest regional developments and the need to maintain multilateral cooperation to strengthen the stability and security of the West Asian region were also discussed during the meeting.

Holding next round of Astana Summit in Turkey with the Iranian, Russian and Turkish presidents in attendance in the near future and holding meeting of the two countries joint cooperation council in September were among other issues discussed during the meeting.

During the meeting, Vaezi also conveyed warm greeting of President Hassan Rouhani to the Turkish government and nation, stressing that Tehran welcomes enhancing cooperation with Ankara in all areas.

Heading a high-level politico-economic delegation, Vaezi made a one-day visit to Ankara on Friday to meet with Erdogan and several other senior Turkish officials.

Earlier in the day, Vaezi held separate talks with Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Fatih Donmez and Treasury and Finance Minister Berat Albayrak Berat Albayrak to review the conditions of making the upcoming joint commission more efficient.

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“Saudi ambassador to UN admitted what Iran has repeated many times i.e. regional issues must be resolved through negotiations and by regional countries,” he underlined.

“Iran welcomes resolving issues with Emirates and Saudi Arabia peacefully because that will be in favor of all regional countries,” he added.

On July 19, Saudi Arabian Ambassador to the United Nations, Abdullah Al-Mouallimi, said that his country does not want war with Iran and that the time to end the war in Yemen has come.

“We do not want war with Iran in Yemen or elsewhere,” Al-Mouallimi said.

On July 22, Spokesman for the Iranian Parliament’s national security commission said Saudi Arabia is on the verge of a ‘serious transformation’, adding that the Arab kingdom seems to be moving toward de-escalation.

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